How a secret legal dispute damaged the BBC's effort to keep 'Great British Bake Off'

Mark Bourdillon/BBC
The BBC's hopes of hanging on to "The Great British Bake Off" were damaged in 2014 after an enormous dispute with Love Productions, the company which owns and makes the baking show.

Three separate sources told us about the secret legal row between the BBC and Love Productions over a hairdressing competition, which was produced in-house at the broadcaster and originally aired on BBC3.

Love complained that "Hair" effectively "ripped-off" the "The Great British Bake Off" format. It engaged Jonathan Coad, a TV copyright specialist at law firm Lewis Silkin, to sue the BBC.

The matter was resolved out of court, with the BBC compensating Love. Our sources were unable to put a figure on the financial settlement.

The BBC and Love Productions declined to comment.

The BBC 'p****d' Love Productions off.

"They p****d Love off," said one person familiar with the matter. "The formats lawyer said it was the clearest cut case they'd seen of a format infringement."

Another source acknowledged that relations between Love and the BBC never properly recovered and the legal dispute damaged the BBC's chances of renewing "The Great British Bake Off."

But a BBC source disputed that this was the case: "It's nonsense to say a deal couldn't be done. We made a very strong offer, everyone understands why the production company made the choice they made."